What do we do after the world ends: Fight (Part 1)

The post-apocalyptic young adult novel is a genre that has been around for years, but seems to be holding steady and even picking up in frequency. I find them fascinating. Why? Because this is one of the new frontiers in speculative fiction – an acceptance that the world is likely to change radically in our lifetimes and a thought experiment into what that might look like. There are several really great aspects to young adult literature, if you can get over the inevitable love triangle: the plot will be fast paced, the world building will be original and committed and usually the protagonist will survive and triumph in ways you weren’t expecting. The Hunger Games is one of the best of these, but here are some other gems to consider:

Divergent by Veronica Roth
In the Chicago of the future, when you turn 16, you choose your faction. The choice is irreversible, and if you fail the initiation of that faction, you will almost certainly die. Beatrice Prior makes an unexpected choice and stumbles into both a conspiracy and a crisis of self-identity that will shake the factions to their core.

Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu
Nigeria in 2070 is a technologically and magically advanced culture that continues to struggle with questions of race and sex. Ejii is haunted by witnessing her father’s public beheading at the age of nine and has conflicted feelings about his murderer, Jaa. In a quest to understand and control her own powers she follows Jaa into the desert.

Restoring Harmony by Joëlle Anthony
The story of a journey from a small Canadian island outside Vancouver down to Oregon and back again. Doesn’t sound that far, does it? But after the Great Collapse of 2031, oil is only available to government vehicles, and North America has become a dangerous place for a girl traveling on her own. Beset by crime syndicates and food shortages, Molly McClure struggles to reunite her family.

For the Win by Cory Doctorow
Economics, video gamers and union politics for a global workplace. For child workers across the globe, the dystopia is now, and the players may have more power than they know. If you don’t have much experience with massively multiplayer online games, this is an immersion course, and an interesting speculation into the role they could play in our near future.

Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Mad Max reimagined as a girl named Saba, searching for her kidnapped twin Lugh in a dusty, drug-riddled world. After Lugh is taken, Saba follows and is captured herself, forced to fight as a gladiator as she narrows down his trail.

Uglies by Scott Westerfield
If you somehow managed to miss the original craze over this series when it came out in 2005, pick it up now before the upcoming movie (still in development) drives the holds list up. Tally Youngblood is 16, and on the cusp of a mandatory surgery that will turn her “pretty” like the rest of her world. When one of her friends runs away, Tally is forced to follow and over time begins to question whether being pretty is worth the price.

Unwind by Neal Shusterman
After the Second Civil War – one fought over reproductive rights and the right to life, America’s new laws mandate that every child conceived will live and be taken care of until the age of 13. From 13-18, however, the child’s guardians will decide whether or not to have that child “unwound” and their bodies harvested for the good of others. It may sound farfetched and chilling, but the world is sensitively presented, and even the three young protagonists, marked for unwinding, are conflicted about their right to avoid their fate.

                   ~ Jenny, Central Library